Latest documents describe ‘culture of illegal information access’ at News of the World

The Wall Street Journal | Reuters
The latest company documents released by a U.K. parliamentary committee investigating so-called “phone hacking” at News of the World describe a “culture of illegal information access” at News Corp.’s British tabloid. News of the World lawyer Tom Crone told editor Colin Myler in a briefing that an email from a reporter to a private investigator, which contained transcripts of voice mails from a former soccer player, was “fatal to our case” and “proves we actively made use of a large number of extremely private voicemails” from the player. James Murdoch approved a large settlement in that lawsuit, but has said he didn’t know that illegal activity extended beyond one person. “The lingering question is whether their findings were brought to the attention of top company officials such as Mr. Murdoch, whose statements have been contradicted publicly by former underlings,” writes the Journal’s Cassell Bryan-Low. James Murdoch will testify again before the committee Nov. 10. || Related: In the December issue of Vanity Fair, Sarah Ellison writes that the Murdoch siblings were in family counseling before the phone-hacking scandal blew up this summer, working on resolving problems between Rupert and James in anticipation of James taking over News Corp. (Vanity Fair) || Earlier: News of the World mobile phone used to eavesdrop on more than 1,000 voice mails (Poynter.org)